Billionaire’s Side Attraction

Javier Lorenzo

Just as I was about to get some sleep after the long day, a loud bang came on my door. I thought to ignore it at first but the banging went on and on. I got up in anger and forced open the door. “What?!” I paused my words when I saw Lula, standing behind her was Rosa.

Lula’s nostrils were flaring like an angry bull. She pushed her way into the room and I locked the door after Rosa got in. Lula looked at me with rage in her eyes. “Why did you do it?”

I turned confused. “Do what?”

She shook her head. “Don’t lie to me! Why did you do it, Javier?!”

“Can you tell me what I did at least?” I lifted my shoulders, showing how confused I was.

She paced down to the other side of the room, and back to where I was standing. Her face was red and her eyes screamed fire. “You posted pictures of the two of us on social media! Now, everyone is saying mean things about me! They are calling me a bitch for cheating on Carlos with you!”

Her words were like French to me. “How the hell did I do that?”

She snatched the phone from Rosa’s hand and showed it to me. “Go on, look at it! Isn’t that your page? It’s verified and shit”

I grew more perplexed. “Yes, this is my page but I didn’t post this-”

“Stop lying! Stop fucking lying! I’ve had it with you and your fake persona, pretending to be a nice guy when all you are is just an opportunistic piece of shit!”

“Is that what you think of me, Lula? Didn’t I tell you my phone ain’t working? Didn’t I tell you someone broke my phone? How then did I post all this?”

She folded her hands on her chest. “Well, maybe you posted it before you broke your phone so that no one will suspect you.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Is she being serious right now? For a second, I was in a haze of incredulity. “Are you insane? Why would you think I’d do such a thing? Listen to me, Lula, I didn’t do this, I swear.” I tried to calm my voice down cause this was just ridiculous.

How could she think so little of me? Post her photo on Instagram? Never! I would never dream of such, I have a social media manager for my pages and barely go online. The only person I knew really well who was a social media freak was Rosa. Wait a minute…

“It was you, Rosa.” I focused on her face. Her eyes went wide open for a minute, I bet this came as a surprise to her that I’d figure her out. “This is why you came on this trip, isn’t it? So you can ruin the relationship between Lula and me.”

Rosa had that annoying sorry look on her face. “What are you saying, Javier?” Her voice had gone an octave lower.

“I’m saying you did this, speak up now! Enough of your schemes-”

“That’s not true.” She argued back.

“Stop accusing Rosa for your actions, Javier!” Lula butted in.

I was gradually losing my patience with these two ladies. “I’ve had it with the both of you, this new friendship pact you got going on, keep me out of it.” I turned out around and headed for the exit, but the next words Lula said broke me into pieces…

She scoffed. “You better take that post down, don’t try to use me to revive your dying career!”

My feet came to a stop and I twisted to look at her. Her eyes showed that she had immediately regretted her words. “I’m sorry”. She covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

I looked down, once again, my words mean nothing to no one. The same way I felt a few days ago, this time, it’s even worse. I came on this trip to feel better, but I am feeling much worse. I looked back up into her wet eyes: “If you can’t believe me when I say that I didn’t do it, then you’re better off without me.” I walked out the door despite her silent pleas.

Once again, Rosa, you won and I have lost. My career has been called a lot of things: beginning, growing, thriving, plunging, etc… but never ‘dying’. And to think this was said by the woman I am in love with.

I made it out of the inn and walked down the almost empty street. I remember seeing a bar down the road as I was driving here earlier, hopefully, I wasn’t hallucinating.

***

“Another shot!” I screamed at the bartender as I slammed the bottom of the glass on the bar yet again. He was starting to feel sorry for me and was asking me if I had anyone around. Of course, I don’t, duh.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I looked up to see who it was. An old buddy of a man was standing there behind me. His face lit up. “Javi?”

“Chris?”

His smile stretched into a grin. “Yeah, dude. So nice to see you after so long!” We shook hands and did a side hug. “Hey, drinks on me tonight.” He sat on the stool beside mine. “Where you headed, man?”

“Home,” I stated.

“California or Mexico?”

I closed my eyes for a second and forced back the tears fighting to come out. I opened them and turned to Chris. “I wanna go see my family in Nebraska.”

“Now that sounds like a plan, the boys and I are getting together for a bachelor’s party in las vegas, you can come to join us!”

I thought long and hard. Should I leave Lula alone with Rosa, oh well, she can obviously take care of herself. Besides, Rosa has said she wants nothing with Lula. She’ll be fine without me.

I nodded. “Yeah Chris, I’m coming with you.”